Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the ability to identify, assess, understand, and manage emotions of oneself and of others. Emotional intelligence skills are valuable for managing behavior, navigating social situations, and making important decisions.

Emotional intelligence is different from general intelligence. Intelligence is a set of cognitive abilities which allow us to acquire knowledge, analyze it, and to apply it solve problems. Intelligence is measured by how quickly and how well new information is processed and learned. Generally, it does not change throughout a person’s life. Conversely, emotional intelligence is an attribute and skill that can be improved over time with practice.

EI focuses on the aspects of intelligence that govern self-knowledge and social adaptation. It involves how a person understands oneself and how he or she relates to and perceives others. By understanding how other people feel allows us to manage our relationships more effectively.

Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and behavioral science journalist, popularized the term and developed related concepts in his influential book, Emotional Intelligence (1995).

According to Goleman, there are four major skills that make up emotional intelligence are:

Self-Awareness

Self-Management

Social Awareness

Relationship Management

Four Quadrants of Emotional Intelligence

There are four quadrants to Emotional Intelligence. Theses quadrants are composed of two primary competencies and two primary actions.

Primary Competencies

Personal competence – Determines how you manage yourself

Social competence – Determines how you relate to others

Primary Actions

Self-Awareness is the ability to know your emotions, strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, interests, habits, values, hopes and dreams. If you are very self-aware, you understand your emotions, trust your intuition, and are able to manage your emotions.

Self-Management is the ability to control your emotions and impulses. If you are able to self-manage, you can control impulsive feelings and behaviors and manage your emotions in healthy ways.

Social Awareness is the ability to identify with and understand the emotions, needs, concerns, and perspectives of other people. It is how well you reads the emotions and feelings of other people.

Relationship Management is the ability that enables you to communicate well with other people and manage relationships so that they progress in the desired direction. It is how you manage your interactions with other people.

People with high EI are able to recognize their own emotional state and the emotional states of others. They are able to communicate effectively, empathize with others, reduce personal stress, overcome challenges, and resolve conflict.